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What to call tonight's blog post? 
I met a bunch of really, really nice people, who have equally nice, really sweet children.  It was a special night wasn't it? You all visited one of my most favorite places in the world and I loved every minute of it. I've loved all 17 of these nights.  Please come again.  

My classroom.  It's mine and for many years now. But it's theirs too: my little friends that I get to spend every day with laughing, learning and more laughing. And weren't they just so proud tonight?  Weren't they just adorable showing you all around our home away from home?  Didn't you love the little popcorn guys they made? Did you notice how many of them wrote about how their favourite thing about me is that I give them candy?! Come on! I give them stickers too!  I promise, it's not that much candy, but I speak their language and it's important to appreciate their hard work and extra miles.

I'm so glad you came.  And if you weren't able to make it tonight, you will not feel guilty when you read this post.  You will drop in some Friday and join us for Fun Friday (price of admission is a coffee please...one cream). 

You're welcome to come by anytime, not just on those #specialnights. Give me a heads up the night before and come by anytime you like; sometimes it's really messy. 

Now check this out.  This is our new reading space and I'm always really proud of our new additions.  They say teaching is the only profession where you steal stuff from home and bring it to work. And if you look around my room, you'll see a whole lotta stolen stuff. Well this little space is brand new. My husband put the chairs together and delivered them to our room (behind every great teacher is a handy and supportive spouse you know!). That's kind of how this room rolls. It's a whole buncha people working behind the scenes: Principals who say "Yes Patti" a lot (seriously a lot), parents who are on #fullycompletely board and one husband who gets it.  

But I especially love the little print: Love can change the world.  I think more than ever, that's what we all need to hear. Mr. Mercury got it right when he said (hashtag goosebumps), "Love dares you to change our ways of caring about ourselves." It's a crazy world and it just seems like we need love, a lot of it.  My hope is that my students feel loved in my room and use this love to...ya, change the world.  

So much of my home is in my classroom. Old furniture, our '86 kitchen cupboards and even my very first "big ticket purchase" is in Room 208. That denim chair is from 1996. That's like the centerpiece of our room and to think at one time, it was my only piece of furniture.  And it all kinda works together, the old and the new, to create this warm and loving space where my kids feel warm and loved.  

As I mentioned to one parent tonight, we only have about 190 days together and it's gonna fly.  Let's get it right.  Let's do our best to make sure these kids soar.  

I'll do my part, I promise.  

And there's our title.